Green’s Dictionary of Slang

make v.

[for mid-20C uses, note L. Block, Diet of Treacle (1961) 126: ‘Consider the verb make [...] The universal verb, the inevitable. I can’t make it, baby. Let us make another scene. Let us make it. [...] It means everything, anything. A universal. A perfect universal. The unfortunate fact is that it also means nothing at all.’ ]

1. to obtain, to attain a goal.

(a) to steal (from).

[UK]B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: I Made this Knife at a heat, c. I Stole it cleverly.
[UK]New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
[UK]Proc. Old Bailey 23 Feb. 92/1: We went to her to sell the Parson’s Scarf. She asked us when we made it.
[UK]Life and Character of Moll King 12: I heard she made a Fam To-night, a Rum one, with Dainty Dasies.
[UK]H.T. Potter New Dict. Cant (1795).
[UK]G. Andrewes Dict. Sl. and Cant.
[UK]G. Kent Modern Flash Dict.
[UK]Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open.
[UK]Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
[UK]Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 6/2: Of course, when they got to the station-house, every ‘poke’ that was ‘made’ that day as out to their account.
[UK]J. Greenwood Dick Temple I 286: Ten or twelve pounds per week! There are hundreds of London thieves [...] who do not ‘make’ twice as many shillings.
[Aus]Bulletin (Sydney) 8 Aug. 11/4: Having taken the precaution to lock the door in order to avoid interruption, she was about to tell his reverence a lot of things – possibly, among others, how many silk dresses she had ‘made’ out of the till during the last quarter – when her husband came thundering at the door.
[US]A.H. Lewis Confessions of a Detective 202: Then I made a swell in a boozing ken.
[US]J. Black You Can’t Win (2000) 14: At twenty-five I was an expert house burglar, a nighttime prowler, carefully choosing only the best home [...] I ‘made’ them in the small hours of the night, always under arms.
[US]D. Maurer ‘Argot of the Und. Narcotic Addict’ Pt 1 in AS XI:2 123/2: To make. […] 3. For someone to rob an addict of his supply of dope.
[US]‘John Eagle’ Hoodlums (2021) 57: Martin made store after store [...] Kirk could see the Cadillac materialize out of the easy loose money.
[US]W. Brown Monkey On My Back (1954) 45: He met another cat he knew and they had done some making (stealing from parked cars).
[US]P. Thomas Down These Mean Streets (1970) 75: Once inside the store we decided we may as well make the whole scene—cigarettes, candy, the cash register, everything.
[US]B. Jackson Killing Time 223: It was a rehash of a clinic I had made back in the fifties.
[US](con. 1940s) Courtwright & Des Jarlais Addicts Who Survived 89: That’s when a lot of drugstore and hospital burglaries started coming into play. I made croakers, too. I even stole a few scrips.

(b) to promote, to make successful, usu. as made.

[UK]Marryat Peter Simple (1911) 337: I expect that [...] Mr. O’Brien is made, and commands this craft.
[US]A.H. Lewis Confessions of a Detective 67: There aren’t so many retired Captains of Detectives, d’ye see, and they ‘made me’.
[US]J. Lait Broadway Melody 8: That is precisely how songs are ‘made’.
[US]L.M. Limpus Honest Cop 53: All the cops were to be probationary patrolmen, the Sergeants, brand new Sergeants who had just been sworn in that day—even the Lieutenants were newly made.
[US]E. Reid Mafia 49: [He] was a confidant of big wheels in the New York political set-up and was credited with being able to ‘make’ federal judges and city magistrates.
[US]R. Daley Target Blue 365: Captain Clark got promoted (‘made’ in Police Department jargon) because he was recommended by the First Deputy.

(c) (US, also make on) to seduce, to have sexual intercourse with.

[UK]Dekker Honest Whore Pt 1 I viii: It was more easie for him in one night to make fifty queanes, then to make one of them honest againe in fifty yeares.
[[UK]R. Brome A Novella IV ii: Shee was his own Church-sure before I left ’em, / And he has made her Cock-sure, sir by this time, / Or else he is a Bungler].
[US]N.E. Police Gaz. (Boston, MA) 18 Aug. 6/3: Fatty M—an, what were you you doing with that girl [...] in the alley? Anything to be made, eh, Fatty?
[US]H. Green Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 194: He had hopes of making the lady.
[US]T.A. Dorgan Indoor Sports 7 Mar. [synd. cartoon] He’s tryin to make the broad and they won’t introduce him.
[US]H.C. Witwer Fighting Blood 28: I got to be made a fool of like this in front of a girl I’m crazy about and a guy that’s trying to make her!
[US]W.R. Burnett Iron Man 96: She even tried to make me, and I’m no beauty as you can see.
[US]R. Chandler Farewell, My Lovely (1949) 219: Them rich dames are easier to make than paper dolls.
[US]Kerouac On The Road (1972) 71: I tried everything in the books to make a girl.
[UK]T. Taylor Baron’s Court All Change (2011) 26: I could never see the point of it, unless you were trying to make a girl.
[Aus]‘Geoffrey Tolhurst’ Flat 4 King’s Cross (1966) 123: I got the reputation for being very exclusive, and I heard that men even laid bets as to whether they could ‘make’ me; or not.
[UK]A. Salkey Late Emancipation of Jerry Stover (1982) 19: He liked her and had half-heartedly tried to make her at the last Christmas party.
[US]D. Goines Inner City Hoodlum 80: Especially when there was a new bitch to be made.
[US]R. Campbell In La-La Land We Trust (1999) 5: She was self-made, she often said, For sure, no man had ever made her.
[US]J. Ridley Love Is a Racket 246: Why would I want to try to make you?
[US](con. 1990s) in J. Miller One of the Guys 156: ‘She got a nice little face and body [...] He was trying to make on her’.
[US]Sandmann ‘Burning Down the House’ Planet Sex Stories 🌐 We both laughed, and from that time on I knew I was gonna make my first chick. It was only a matter of time.

(d) (US) to succeed in getting something; esp. in context of drugs, usu. constr. with for, e.g. make a croaker for a reader, to persuade a doctor to write a prescription for narcotics; make for a stash, to steal the drugs another addict has hidden so as to use them oneself.

[US]T.A. Dorgan in Zwilling TAD Lex. (1993) 21: She and I were sitting there making love see — and I’m just goin to make her for the coin.
[US]A.J. Barr Let Tomorrow Come 153: An’ ’is mouthpiece makes ’im for the iron and lays ’im flat.
[US]W.R. Burnett Silver Eagle 252: ‘If you hadn’t tried to make me for dough, you’d never got yourself in this mess’.
[US]D. Maurer ‘Argot of the Und. Narcotic Addict’ Pt 1 in AS XI:2 124/1: make. [...] 5. To obtain drugs from a physician [...] To make a croaker for a reader. To persuade a physician, by one means or another, to write a prescription for narcotics.
[US]‘William Lee’ Junkie (1966) 22: Roy finally [...] made the doctor for a ten-grain script.
[US]Cressey & Ward Delinquency, Crime, and Social Process 824: A pill freak [...] is more likely to divert his conning ability to ‘making a croaker’ (physician) by simulating bodily illnesses, depression, or severe headaches.
[US]H. Selby Jr Requiem for a Dream (1987) 39: Youre makin a croaker for speed.
[US](con. 1940s–60s) H. Huncke ‘Ed Leary’ in Eve. Sun Turned Crimson (1998) 128: He knew a couple of people who were keeping up habits making croakers.
[US](con. 1930s–60s) H. Huncke Guilty of Everything (1998) 257: Bill, I think that drugstore could be made.

(e) (US Und.) in weaker form of sense 1d above, to entice the potential victim of a confidence trick.

[US]J. Callahan Man’s Grim Justice 38: I’ve got an old John nibbling [...] Stall away for five minutes until I make him.

(f) to attain a goal, e.g. make the team, make a club.

[UK]P. Marks Plastic Age 11: If you’re a runner you ought to make a fraternity easy.
[US]R. Chandler ‘The King in Yellow’ in Spanish Blood (1946) 77: Yours was the only bedroom he couldn’t make?
[UK]K. Amis letter 27 Feb. in Leader (2000) 271: Bruce and I were very thick at one time; dropped his old friends, of course, when he made Covent Garden.
[US]G. Pelecanos Shame the Devil 22: You ain’t gonna make that yellow, partner.

(g) (US) to consume drugs or drink.

[US]G. Lea Somewhere There’s Music 18: Baby and I made two of those pills.
[US]Ross Russell Sound 11: I can’t make lush at all, baby.
[US]L. Block Diet of Treacle (2008) 101: ‘I don’t like . . . pot.’ [...] ‘How do you know? You never made it, baby.’.

(h) (US) to make a drug purchase.

[US]R.R. Lingeman Drugs from A to Z (1970) 155: make [...] (2) to purchase drugs from a peddler, as in ‘I tried to make him for some junk’.
[US]D.E. Miller Bk of Jargon 342: make: To purchase (drugs). (‘I just made some downs.’).

2. (US) to consider, to regard, to estimate as, e.g. I make it about 10 o’clock.

[UK]J.H. Ingraham Midshipman 62: ‘Sail ho!’ [...] ‘What do you make her?’ .
[US]G. Bronson-Howard God’s Man 364: I made him for a State’s Evidence louse.
[US]C. McKay Home to Harlem 332: Haven’t made that theah burg yet.
[US]W.R. Burnett Tomorrow’s Another Day 125: Ray [...] slowly riffled the bills, wetting his thumb from time to time like a file-clerk leafing through a pile of correspondence. ‘A hundred and five thousand dollars, I make,’ he said.
[US]W.R. Burnett Underdog 203: [H]e sat shuffling the bills from pile to pile, counting. [...] On the fifth count, he made it as fifty-eight thousand dollars.
[US]W.R. Burnett Cool Man 64: ‘Mr. Allen,’ said the bell captain, ‘I made you as smart from the first’.
[US]E. Torres Q&A 69: Shit, I can make a room with one suck of my eyeballs.
[US](con. 1970s) G. Pelecanos King Suckerman (1998) 209: Everyone makes him as the main triggerman.

3. in senses of movement.

(a) (US) to go to, to arrive at, to attend, to pay a visit.

[US]W.G. Simms Forayers 467: He will be for keeping this side, where he can soonest make Orangeburg.
[US]T. Winthrop John Brent 52: We have no time to lose, if we expect to make Missouri before winter.
[UK]Man about Town 27 Nov. 92/2: [A]fter losing my way [in the fog] in trying to ‘make’ the nearest lamp-post [...] I shut up my house’s ears and went to bed.
[US] W.H. Thomas A Slaver’s Adventures 24: The next day we made the island, and passed FIoreo Castle without the customary challenge.
[US]‘Hugh McHugh’ Down the Line 30: Whenever he makes a town where there’s a pool room his expense account gets fat and beefy.
[US]D. Hammett ‘The Second-Story Angel’ Nightmare Town (2001) 217: I was passin’ and spotted somebody makin’ your fire escape.
[US]D. Lamson We Who Are About to Die 197: This is the first time in twenty years that I ever made a big joint.
[US]N. Algren Never Come Morning (1988) 83: He knew Casey had made the car because he’d heard him hit the running board as Finger wheeled it out of the alley.
[US]N. Algren Walk on the Wild Side 257: We went up on deck to watch the boat make the pier.
[US]C. Brown Manchild in the Promised Land (1969) 178: You could sell a hundred dollars worth of cocaine if you made all the bars.
[US]E. Torres After Hours 38: I made the casino in the evenin’.
[US]J. Ellroy Because the Night 196: ‘There’s a party in the Valley at eleven-thirty. and [. . .] I’d like to make it’.
[US]S. Morgan Homeboy 370: Let’s make the flick.
[UK]J. Cameron Vinnie Got Blown Away 19: Moved off through the other motors and made the street, Beaconsfield Road.
[US](con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 15: She crossed Houston. Cars swerved by her. She made Dealey Plaza.

(b) (Aus.) to leave.

[Aus]Bulletin (Sydney) 14 Sept. 19/2: It took twenty minutes and a bottle of brandy before he knew whether he was an Irishman or a Cherokee, and on the first glimmer of returning life, we lifted our blueys and ’made.’ Mackenzie, the nigger, left earlier.

(c) spec. use of sense 3a above, to catch, e.g. make a plane, make a train.

[US]Boston Transcript Aug. n.p.: He wanted to be awaked at 11.30 sharp, as he had to make a train.
[US]H.L. Wilson Somewhere in Red Gap 24: I hurried home to get a bite to eat and dress and make the party.
[US]‘Digit’ Confessions of a Twentieth Century Hobo 70: She was a Limited passenger which would stop for a few minutes to take in oil and water. We decided to make her.
[NZ] (ref. to 1890–1910) L.G.D. Acland Early Canterbury Runs (1951) 386: Make [...] (of men) arrive at, get to; e.g., m. the station.
Dan Burley ‘Back Door Stuff’ 30 Oct. [synd. col.] [Y]ou and me [...] will still be making the subways and buses to cop a slave.
D. Jenkins Saturday’s America 68: Complaining about the traffic [...] has always been one of Dallas's favorite pastimes. It is not so amusing when one wants to make a kickoff.
[US](con. 1986) G. Pelecanos Sweet Forever 38: Maybe you guys can still make the show.

4. (orig. US police/Und.) in sense of SE make out, to discern, abbr. make an identification.

(a) to recognise (in a non-judicial context).

[US]F. Hutcheson Barkeep Stories 6: It was too late. The man [...] had ‘made’ him.
T.A. Dorgan ‘Silk Hat Harry’s Divorce Suit’ in Des Moines Register (IO) 29 Oct. 43: Did you make the new hanging bag?
[US]L. Block Diet of Treacle (2008) 111: ‘You can call me Shank.’ ‘I never made that handle.’.
[Aus]D. Whish-Wilson Old Scores [ebook] At some point during the day Mostel had made the tail.
[US]S.A. Crosby Blacktop Wasteland 181: ‘We were going to pinch you when you left, but you made us’.

(b) to witness or observe, to recognize, to identify a suspect, or for a suspect to recognise a (plainclothes) policeman; thus make someone for, to recognize someone as.

[US]A.H. Lewis Confessions of a Detective 206: When I hears these sneaks scrambling at the fence to get away, I thought some bull had made us; and with that I legs it, too.
[US]Ade ‘The New Fable of the Intermittent Fusser’ in Ade’s Fables 43: An Expert would have Made her at a glance, but the Cub fell for the Scenery and Mechanical Effects.
[US]A.J. Barr Let Tomorrow Come 40: He makes me doin’ it an’ I heave ’em at ’im an’ duck.
[US]R. Chandler ‘Red Wind’ in Red Wind (1946) 56: We make these two mugs.
[US]C. Himes ‘Strictly Business’ in Coll. Stories (1990) 146: They made him from the ‘wanted’ circular that had just come in and sent him back to be tried.
[US]‘Blackie’ Audett Rap Sheet 123: I needn’t have worried, because I never was made on neither of them jobs.
[US]E. Gilbert Vice Trap 25: I went by them slowly, checking the numbers. Then I made the house.
[US]J. Mills Panic in Needle Park (1971) 154: Department cars are too easy to make—to spot.
[US]E. Torres Carlito’s Way 110: Even if the feds made the car [...] he can get away.
[US]N. Pileggi Wiseguy (2001) 18: It got so that I could always make a plainclothesman.
[US]J. Wambaugh Finnegan’s Week 293: It’s too dark for them to make us.
[US]T. Dorsey Stingray Shuffle 202: ‘We’ve been made!’ said Serge [...] ‘To the hideout!’.
[US]D. Winslow Winter of Frankie Machine (2007) 88: The boy has done some other work that, thank Saint Anthony, the feds didn’t make him for.
[Aus]L. Redhead Cherry Pie [ebook] When Tony Torcasio had tutored us in PI school he’d always said if you got made, deny it, then get the fuck out of there.
[Aus](con. 1943) G.S. Manson Irish Fandango [ebook] Simmo, Special Branch. He’d make Jack in a tick.
[US]D. Winslow The Force [ebook] The pit bull has made them.
[US]D. Winslow ‘Broken’ in Broken 32: ‘“A white cop at a titty bar in the Ninth? They’ll make you right away.’.

(c) (US Und.) to solve a case; to prove someone guilty in court.

[US]R. Starnes And When She Was Bad 119: I don’t care if I never make another case in this town, I’m going to put the arm on somebody for this one’.
[US]W. Hjortsberg Falling Angel 87: The Feds tried to make him on a stock-option swindle, but he was just the fall guy for a pair of Wall Street shysters.
[US]Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 18: Bank also Make To prove someone guilty of committing a crime.
[US]Mollen Report 92: His order [...] eliminated the opportunity to make a potentially large-scale corruption case in his borough.
[US]R. Cooley When Corruption Was King 268: He was a crime boss on the level of Marco D’Amico. They had been trying to make him for years.
[US](con. 2016) in J. Fenton We Own This City 144: Tonight, May 4, 2016, my guys made our 50th handgun violation.

(d) to stop and search people on the street.

[US]C. Cooper Jr Scene (1996) 9: Detectives Davis and Patterson, the Rollers, they made me.
[US]G.V. Higgins Friends of Eddie Coyle 182: He could probably make half the hoods and forty per cent of the bikies in this district.
[US]T. Wolfe Bonfire of the Vanities 420: ‘They claim they’ve got a witness who can—make the people who were at the scene. You follow me?’ ‘Make?’ ‘Identify ’em.’.
[US]S. Morgan Homeboy 21: He couldn’t make a deathbed mug ID.

5. (US) to understand or to empathize with.

[US]H. Green Mr. Jackson 170: ‘You understand me?’ ‘I make you [...] sure I do.’.
[US]T.A. Dorgan in Zwilling TAD Lex. (1993) 55: Come again I don’t make you.
[US]J. Lait ‘One Touch of Art’ in Beef, Iron and Wine (1917) 207: Now, you made me? Tomorrow, by the clock. Ma’s gotta have security or currency.
[US]‘Ed Lacy’ Lead With Your Left (1958) 40: I don’t make you all the time, Dave.
[US]T. Southern ‘The Road Out of Axotle’ in Southern (1973) 105: ‘You make it, man,’ he said, handing me his billfold, ‘I can’t make these greaser.’.

6. to appear in the newspaper.

[UK]Sat. Rev. Lit. (US) 8 July 16/2: Frederick was unconscious of the drama that had made page 1 of the morning paper [DA].
[US]E. Hunter ‘First Offense’ in Jungle Kids (1967) 11: I was just wonderin’ if we’d make the papers.

7. (US, mainly Southern) to distill liquor illegally.

J. Thomas Blue Ridge Country 105: I’ve been makin’ all my life right here in these Dug Down Mountains alongside this clift.
Hall Collection Jake used to make up at the Spence Place. Him and George Cooper used to make up there.
G. Carson Social Hist. Bourbon 113: ‘Is your father around, sonny?’ ‘Nope. Pap’s up thar makin’.’ ‘Makin’T’ You know-’shine.’.

8. (US black) to straighten one’s hair.

[US]WELS.
[US]Wentworth & Flexner DAS.
[US]C. Major Dict. Afro-Amer. Sl. 79: Made: had one’s hair straightened (female).
[US] in DARE.

9. (US) to enlist someone as an official member of the US Mafia; usu. as made adj. (4)

[[UK]Barrère & Leland Dict. of Sl., Jargon and Cant II 40/2: Make [...] (Freemasons), to initiate].
P. Blauner Casino Moon 33: ‘‘How many times I gotta tell you, Vin? [...] Anthony hasn’t the Sicilian blood on both sides so there’s no way I can make him’.
[US](con. 1973) C. Stella Johnny Porno 28: We could add a vowel your last name, get you made.

10. (US) to bear or endure.

[US]A.J. Cox Delinquent, The Hipster and The Square (1962) 35: I made those want ads for a week, man.
[US]Simon & Burns Corner (1998) 366: Fat Curt, for one, won’t make another winter out here.

11. (US) to enjoy, to appreciate.

[US]This Week mag. 5 Apr. 13: It’s a kind of music I mostly can’t make.

In compounds

In phrases

make for (v.)

to identify, to connect to.

[US]‘William Lee’ Junkie (1966) 78: I would never have made Benny for junk.
[US]L. Block ‘Badger Game’ in One Night Stands (2008) 22: Somebody with a little more on the ball might have made him for a hustler in the Organization.
[US]C. Stroud Close Pursuit (1988) 150: They see you talking to a bad guy — pow. Right away, they make you for association.
[US] in J. Breslin Damon Runyon (1992) 131: He made Villa for a mass murderer.
[US]N. Green Angel of Montague Street (2004) 43: Well, we never made you for it [i.e. a murder].
[US]J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 282: ‘You and the hats made Fat Boy for the snuff’.
make off (v.)

(US) to pretend.

[US]N. Algren Neon Wilderness (1986) 147: Doc wouldn’t even understand, even though Doc always made off like he did anyhow.
make out (v.) [SE make out, ‘to establish by evidence, argument’ (OED); see also separate entry]

to arrive at a conclusion; thus how do you make that out? how do you reach that conclusion?

[UK]‘Lewis Carroll’ Game of Logic 93: ‘That lets me into a little fact about you, you know!’ ‘Why, how do you make that out? You never heard me play the organ?’ .
[US]J. Flynt World of Graft 62: The Under World was afraid of him, could not make him out.
[US]J.W. Carr in ‘Word-List From Northwest Arkansas’ in DN III:v 400: make out, v. 1. To deduce. ‘So far as I can make out, he is right.’.
[UK]Wodehouse Right Ho, Jeeves 1: It simply raises its eyebrows and can’t make out what you’re talking about.
[UK]J. Curtis There Ain’t No Justice 141: ‘How’d you make that out?’ ‘How’d I make anything out.’.
[UK]J. Curtis You’re in the Racket, Too 58: If he’s as wide as I make him out to be from what you’ve told me he can deny the whole bleeding issue.
[UK]A. Sillitoe Sat. Night and Sun. Morning 118: I can never make you out.
make over (v.)

(US black) to flatte, to fuss overr.

[US]W.R. Burnett Goodbye to the Past 94: The little boy [...] hated being made over and talked to and patted.
[US](con. 1920s) Dos Passos Big Money in USA (1966) 1026: Margo [...] acted the jealous bitch and started making over Cassidy to beat the cars.
[US]Z.N. Hurston Seraph on the Suwanee (1995) 697: Kenny Meserve was a very lively child; everybody made over him.
[US]Randolph & Wilson Down in the Holler 155: Much is a transitive verb meaning to praise, to flatter. [...] Make over is often heard, with the same meaning.
[US] ‘Sl. of Watts’ in Current Sl. III:2.
make up to (v.)

1. to ‘make love to’, to ‘chat up’.

[UK]D. Williams (trans.) Voltaire’s Dram. Works II. 25: She ogles me still, or I’m mistaken; I’ll e’en make up to her [OED].
[US]T. Haliburton Sam Slick in England II 248: If Old Cran. was to slip off the handle, I think I should make up to her, for she [the daughter] is ‘a salt,’ [...] a most heavenly slice.
[US]‘Ned Buntline’ G’hals of N.Y. 91: If only he’d make up to Lize Burton; Lize is such a nice girl.
[Aus]Bulletin (Sydney) 5 Sept. 11/1: Mr. Blake’s daughter caught Ebernezer’s glittering eye, and he ‘made up to her.’.
[Aus]H. Nisbet Bushranger’s Sweetheart 234: I [...] saw her make up to a sea captain.
[US]A.H. Lewis Confessions of a Detective 240: He made up to the old fellow, and had a brief chat about wines.
[UK]E. Pugh Harry The Cockney 75: Cock Mayne has been making up to Fanny Simpson.
[Ire]Joyce Ulysses 691: He had the impudence to make up to me one time well done to him mouth almighty.
[UK]P. O’Donnell Islanders (1933) 132: I’d be makin’ up to ye myself, if I was as young as some of the boys.
[UK]R. Westerby Wide Boys Never Work (1938) 61: I saw you making up to her.
[Aus]R. Park Poor Man’s Orange 38: That dirty old cow, always making up to kids. Only been out of boob a few weeks.
[Aus]D. Niland Shiralee 122: The silly cow, makin’ up to the tabbies and that.
[NZ]N. Hilliard Maori Girl 56: There she was, knocking them back, making up to all the boys.
[UK]H.E. Bates A Little of What You Fancy (1985) 560: She was very near tempted to start making up to him herself.
[US]A.K. Shulman On the Stroll 31: The way you been makin up to me and givin up rhythm, I thought sure we’d be spendin time together.
[UK]‘John le Carré’ Constant Gardener 478: Did you make up to Ghita Pearson while you were dancing with her at Elena’s party, or not?

2. to curry favour with.

[UK]B.H. Malkin (trans.) Adventures of Gil Blas vii. i. 32: They made up to Don Cæsar or his son at once, without currying my favour as the channel of all good graces.
[Aus]E. Dyson ‘A Vain Sacrifice’ in Below and On Top 🌐 Mrs. Petersen had shown no disposition to ‘make up to’ her neighbours’ wives and daughters, and consequently had the reputation of being ‘stuck up.’.
[US]Robert J. Fry Salvation of Jemmy Sl. I ii: Why don’t ya try and make up to ’em. Kid ’em along an’ get the coin.
[US]Baker et al. CUSS.

3. (US gay) of a lesbian, to be the active partner in lovemaking.

[US]Kennedy & Davies Boots of Leather (2014) 206: ‘These studs, talking about how “I don’t take the sheet.” You know what I mean “don’t take the sheet,” don’t you? That mean a stud make up to a fem all the time, a few did not make up with a stud’.
make with (v.) (also give with) [Yid. macht mit, make with]

(orig. US) to use, to affect, to perform, to pose as.

[US]‘Hugh McHugh’ John Henry 66: All he has done since is cuddle down in a chair and tell people how to make fancy with the cue.
[US]W. Winchell On Broadway 22 June [synd. col.] B . . . F . .z . .r making with the hips at La Conga.
[US]Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 225: Maybe they were playing the ofay game of making-with-the-words.
[US]R. Chandler Little Sister 112: Give with a little of the old trust and friendliness.
[US]W. Burroughs Naked Lunch (1968) 100: That Latah [...] make with the switcheroo.
[Aus]S. Gore Holy Smoke 14: Beat it [...] Make with the feet, sport – while you still got ’em!
[US]L. Bangs in Psychotic Reactions (1988) 231: First thing was they went up to their rooms [...] I began to make with the grouch squawks. [Ibid.] 234: He smokes a lot and when he gets really out there on it makes with cartoon non sequiturs that nobody else can fathom.
[SA]P. Slabolepszy Sat. Night at the Palace (1985) 36: You make with a couple of Rocco Burgers – I’ll forget about the five cents you owe me.
[US](con. 1940s) C. Bram Hold Tight (1990) 100: You [...] make with the customers. I am losing money talking.
[UK]J. Cameron Vinnie Got Blown Away 89: He made with the kettle.
[US]J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 109: She socked the saps into the saddle and made with the moans.

SE in slang uses

In compounds

make-bate (n.) (also makebait)

a troublemaker; one who stirs up arguments; also attrib.

[R. Copland Hye Wey to Spyttel House Ei: With eche one they fall out and make bate Causyng people them for to hate].
[UK]Holinshed Irish Chronicle 293: He would punish him as a pikethank makebate.
[Ire]Stanyhurst ‘Of A Craking Cvtter’ Of Virgil his Æneis n.p.: Thow scuruye peasant, my wiefe th’hast, villen, abused. My bed defiled: lyke a breaklooue mak’bat adultrer.
[UK]Tell-Trothes New-Yeares Gift (1876) 17: As for make-bates, there was framed against them a bill.
[UK]J. Clarke Paraemiologia 54: A make-bate.
[UK]E. Hickeringill The Mushroom in Works (1709) II 371: How does the Market fail? when Lawreats With Pimping Rhimes are glad to turn Make-bates.
[UK]B.E. Dict. Canting Crew.
[UK]N. Ward London Terraefilius IV 37: A Makebate, like a Witch, is always disquieting herself in doing other People Mischief.
[UK]London Standard 12 Feb. 4/2: The minister betrays the honour and interests of France, says the French make-bate.
[UK]Leeds Intelligencer 24 May 6/4: In such a position the isolated individual must feel that he is regarded [...] as a make-bate.
[Ire]Dublin Eve. Mail 5 Mar. 2/3: The small statesman who wrote ‘No Popery’ on the wall and then ran away, is very likely to [...] retreat from his position of common make-bate.
[UK]Shields Daily Gaz. 7 July 3/5: He becomes a Radical member of Parrliament. He becomes not merely a make-bate and a firebrand [...] He descends to [...] false witness.

In phrases

make... (v.)

see also under relevant n. or adj.

make a die (v.) [? pun on make a day of (‘day’ = ‘die’ in Cockney pron.)]

to die.

[US]Letters by an Odd Boy 163: Why, if my feelings being altogether too much for me — and I think the best way is to ‘make a die of it ‘— why should I be said to ‘kick the bucket?
[US]L. Pound ‘American Euphemisms for Dying’ in AS XI:3 199: Made a die of it.
make an example (v.)

to get drunk.

[UK]J. Ray Proverbs (2nd edn) 87: Proverbiall Periphrases of one drunk. He’s disguised [...] He has made an example.
make free with both ends of the busk (v.)

see under busk n.

make the legal move (v.)

(US teen) to get married.

Lord Buckley ‘The Mighty Hip Einie’ 🎵 on Lord Buckley: A Most Immaculately Hip Aristocrat (1999) [album] Now ready, really ready, he looked around / and finally zeroed in on a real fly chick, / made the legal move with her, / rang the chapel bells of joy, / and out, come swung out of this beauty spin, / came two little Mars-heads, a boy and a girl, you see.
[US]G. Sculatti Catalog of Cool 🌐 (to) make the legal move (verb): Get married. Einstein, says Lord Buckley, found his woman, ‘made the legal move, rang the bells and out of this union were born two swingin’ Marsheads.’.